his post was inspired by a session I listened to called “Revolution postponed: The Arab Spring and Africa” at the just concluded Global Media Forum hosted by Deutsche Welle.Who provides the worldwide acceptable definition of the word ‘Revolution’? Who owns the word? Is it Tunisia, because they pretty much started the wave the world now refers to… The post Af […]

When Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali wrote the classic ‘Nightfall in Soweto’, perhaps he had peeked far into the future and seen the exact similarities between his protagonist and Boko Haram in all their deviousness.When he wrote, “a murderous hand, lurking in the shadows, clasping the dagger, strikes down the helpless victim”, maybe he had seen correctly, but… The […]

Good ideas don’t require proper planning or schedule; nor do they benefit from exhaustingly long meetings and conversations with management. They emerge from experiments, from playing around with things that you care about, things to which you have an emotional attachment. And quite often they need a creative chaotic environment to flourish and grow. However […]

admin

Advertisements

DEVIL MAY CARE

Ok, so today’s the day I’ll let you in on the post that didn’t quite make it to the top 10 of the Commonwealth Competition; I’m learning, and looking forward to the day I’ll tell you I won it, because I know I will, and in this life time!

I’ve always been passionate about violence against women and all the issues surrounding that because whether we like it or not, it is our sisters, wives, girlfriends and mothers getting beaten/abused by men who have sworn (in secret or in the open) to love, honor, and protect the women they now batter with reckless abandon! I have never understood how a man can beat his wife in the morning, and then with the same hands, hold her at night. The Scriptures say a stream cannot produce sweet and bitter water, same way I KNOW the same hands can’t produce different results! So I don’t get carried away, let’s leave this talk for another day.

One final digression (pretty please), last night a friend sent me a Blackberry Message that read, “I was bored so I decided to go on Google and search – what do women want? Google search result? We are also searching!” Sexist as it sounded, it made me laugh!! I’ll deal with that friend, but later. Let’s not detract from my beautiful story reproduced below, titled ‘Devil May Care’ (these past couple of days I have wondered why I gave it that name….maybe it was even one of the things that worked against it).

DEVIL MAY CARE

“Why won’t you stop hitting me”, Celia managed to gasp between slaps that so stunned her she was surprised then disappointed she hadn’t fainted yet. After passing out more than twice in the last six weeks from ‘corrections’ from her Darren, fainting wasn’t scary any more. Matter of fact, it had become her escape route; he always stopped beating her when she fainted. And even if he didn’t stop, at least she wouldn’t feel it.

Celia was grateful; in the midst of the beating she was getting, she was grateful. Grateful that she had convinced her husband that their six-bedroom mansion needed redecorating, and she wanted to do it herself.

She had exchanged the glass table for mahogany, covered the tiles in just about every part of the house with thick plush carpets that made her smile every time her feet sunk into them, and replaced the glass and metal figurines in the living room with portraits and pictures cased in soft wood.

Celia felt safe with her work, now she would only have to absorb the punches and slaps. She also enjoyed the twisted comfort of knowing that if she fell, and more when than if, she wouldn’t hurt as bad as she had the day she had, upon collision, shattered the glass table in the living room.

She tasted blood in that moment, and couldn’t immediately tell if she had lost a tooth, bitten her tongue, or if the blood had run down her head. Sometimes she couldn’t tell.

She couldn’t tell a lot of things. She couldn’t tell why he was beating her, today or any other day; she just knew it wasn’t this way from the beginning. She had been good; always had a hot meal ready for him, the house sparkled, and she had worked hard to maintain her stunning figure after two sons and two trauma induced miscarriages. She never refused him either, and she could swear he would come crawling into her bed tonight, he always did. Followed of course by cards, a new car, an exotic holiday, blank cheque……

“Why are you smiling Celia?” “Are you mocking me?” “Are you?” “Are you?” She imagined hell, Darren looked so incensed she could literally feel the sparks flying off his face as he thundered. And as she crumbled under the kick to her stomach, slipping into nothingness she was again thankful for the carpet and wondered if she had picked the right colour.

That’s it, that’s the entry I sent in. I tried to find the guidelines for entry so anyone who wanted to comment would have a background but I wasn’t successful. Doesn’t mean you can’t pick the story apart though, please feel free to, thank you!!!

P:S – I hand in my final assignments tomorrow, whoop whoop!!

Secondly, I’m excited that the animal masked as an envoy that Nigeria sent out has been recalled. I’m sorry but yes I’ve judged him already, and he is guilty! There is no reason under heaven for battering a woman, no reason at all. I just hope that he will be prosecuted swiftly; it took more than 10 days since Kenyan papers broke the story for Nigeria to recall him. Put the beast away already!

Did you enjoy it? Give someone else the opportunity to! Share!

Like this:

Related

I actually like the story and try to worry less about not winning, maybe God is preparing a bigger trophy for you. It’s amazing how women stay silent amidst emotional and physical abuse because they ultimately want to save face or want to live up to societal expectations that she stay married and “humble” to her husband. God save us from such monsters and keep them far from crossing our paths.

sweets i actually do not absolutely believe the High comm did that to his wife. the story had some k-leg in my opinion when it leaked at first so i didnt cast judgement just yet but i still felt something was amiss. when gist contrary to what the woman was saying started spreading, i then decided to pay some mind to it. i read her son’s comment and all and nne i think that woman did some phototshop. Couples quarel, no be today but i still dont think he inflicted such on her. but if he did, which i doubt, then he is a beast. moreover, people started even judging from a SINGLE STORY. Even before we heard from the man, just cos we saw some pictures that looked incredulous. lets judge only after a balance of stories, which are getting now. Cheers

@Eziaha, I know. New facts emerging on the brouhaha (excluding the Ambassador’s pitiful story on Sahara Reporters) suggest that the woman might have exaggerated a whole lot, and that’s sad because automatically it has made it hard for the next woman being abused by her partner to speak up. Maybe I’m a little too passionate about the violence against women cause, and yes, I judged from the gory pictures that first flooded the internet. I promise to make it up when there’s an official judgement on the matter, k?
Hugs!

i like the story, but ehmmmmm it is hanging in the middle of somewhere, where is the arc madam. Abi you don forget all ur writer’s workshop wey u do. i would have loved to read more, understand the history behind the violence and what came of it, did she stay, leave him or stab him one night.
As for our Kenyan show of shame, i totally feel u on no justification to hit a woman, but Eziaha is absolutely right, save ur judgement until you get the whole gist, nd for ur info the woman had a history of violence. Anyway i think any woman facing violence at home or in a relationship na she want am, regardless of what society thinks you can always leave, it’s all about action and reaction. If i stay, i might one be killed by my lover or husband, if i leave, society might say all sorts or discriminate aginst me but i’ll be alive to face the problem. Leave if ur husband or boyfriend is prone to using as a punching bag.
Finish the story please, very interestd in d ending.

@ Nasiru, ah ha! Problem number 1 isolated!! Lol at me forgetting all the writers workshops! Truth is, the word limit was 600 so what you read is all there is to the story o; I didn’t know how to shorten it further to incorporate the points you raised. That also means there’s no ‘ending’. *sigh* Nasty what would you do differently?
As for the Wigwe story, I’m aware of the lady’s history of violence (from the guy’s account of the incident). What I would really like to read would be separate accounts from the children, let’s see if they’ll have anything different, and how their stories will complement or contrast what their parents have said. And I agree with you that difficult as it is, a woman who is being battered by her husband, boyfriend, or partner should walk! Walk away and be alive to listen to the rumors/gossip people will peddle.

i even forgot i said this till u mentiined on my blog. lols. anyhoo, tz well with the Wigwe family. God hlp them. meanwhile he was recalled yeah? but the news tonyt called him ambassador still ooo. hmm, life

1. It seems to lack verisimilitude. Someone being beaten cannot afford the luxury of the thoughts being conveyed in the story. A story like that should be plausible.

2. It seems to play too overtly for shock value with the violence.

3. Plot: The story does not seem to go anywhere. It appears as just a snapshot of a man beating a woman. Where is the story in that? What makes it a story? What is the point? This links to number 2 above.